Today, this declaration is often heard
among people from every walk of life, “That’s not my God,” which is in reality nothing
more than an expression of disdain and opposition to the historical/grammatical
interpretation of the Scriptures held by evangelicals of the faith of the One and only true God, Yahweh. Those making this pagan proclamation about their god not being as unloving as Yahweh (contrast Jn 3:16; Rom 5:8) is actually a testament that their god is either a demon portraying to be a god, or their god simply does not exist but a mere contrivance of a dark heart.
Generally,
the setting behind the “That’s not my God” statements is proven to be cutting
against the grain of the truth of Scripture, our only authoritative source for
evaluating the validity of any claim. Countless times people have declared that
“God told them” to do this or that when upon closer examination, such belief
or action actually contradicted the teaching of Scripture. Do they not know that
Yahweh will never violate His Word?
Sometimes it is a no-brainer that
Scripture is being assaulted, which is, understandably, not a big deal for the
mindset of the lost; it is what they naturally do; it is to be expected. For
instance, people arrogantly claim that the Apostle Paul had it all wrong about
homosexuality which is actually an attack on the authority of Scripture (Rom 1:26-28;
cf. 2 Tim 3:16-17). People today, whether saved or not, are embracing the love
of God but rejecting His standards of holiness! Yahweh will never allow His standards of holiness to be compromised by feelings. The enemy of Yahweh and His people are deconstructing and
reconstructing the characterization or manifestation of sinful behavior as a new normal as in the case of homosexuality, for
example.
What is very disturbing is not that
those who do not possess the Holy Spirit are doing this, but rather those
claiming to be “Christians” that are siding with the pro-homosexual groups and challenging
the historical position of the Church that views homosexuality as a sin. The
Bible is often mistreated and disrespected, by the saved and unsaved alike, by
being thought of as some “U Pick” farm in Florida (you pick what you want and like).
“All Scripture is profitable
(invaluable, priceless),” not worthless or wrong, here or there!
Our thinking, speaking, and acting are
to be based on Christ-like behavior as revealed in Scripture. Please, heavily
ponder upon this! Any sin we attempt to rationalize as acceptable to God is actually an odious proposition that what
was historically considered a sin is now viewed as Christian-like in nature. God
is unchanging, why would He change His view on homosexuality? He didn’t. There are no game changers by
neo-interpretations of Scripture, only ancient heresies sporting a new outfit
that accuses all who disagree with any such proposed pagan propositions as insensitive,
intolerant, and hateful, but in actuality, it is the other way around!
Though we cannot expect the same treatment
from the lost, the proper approach by believers has always been to attack the
sin and not the person regardless of how they treat Christians. This is in
alignment with love, the agape kind. One
other thought on this subject of morphing sin into non-sin. It is one thing to
push the envelope of technology, but it is quite another to push the ethos of
God’s Word from absolute to relativity. We invariably wind up at the juncture
of Jdg 21:25 which inevitably leads to divine judgment.
If this statement, “That’s not my God,” is
sourced in a polytheistic point of view (the belief in many gods) that embraces tens of thousands upon thousands of gods (actually demons), then “my God” is not a definitive reference to Yahweh but inclusive of a plethora of gods, including Yahweh. This has no
authoritative basis from the Bible for Yahweh makes it indelibly clear there
are no other gods (e.g., Deut 4:35; Isa 43:10; 44:6). I prefer to point to the real authority by saying it this way, “That’s not the God of the Bible” rather than pointing to a self-appointed authority, “my,” even though Yahweh is my God.
The problem I see with using such a statement
of “That’s not my God” from a right monotheistic point of view (Yahweh, not
Allah) is that we cannot justify having many ideas about God or our own mental concoction
on how we perceive God to be apart from the teaching of Scripture. All of God’s
attributes are absolute! Our view of God should not contradict God’s Self-revelation
of Himself to man via the Holy Writ. If we attempt to inject our own understanding
of God that contradicts the teaching of Scripture, then that is a usurpation
and not illumination. The Bible or special revelation is God’s
revelation to man through the process of inspiration where God the Holy Spirit
superintended the very words, the expressions, the content, and the timing of
the release of Scripture over a span of 1500 years, on three continents, three languages, and forty
writers (cf. 2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pet 1: 20-21).
Yahweh is not all things to all people,
meaning that a true believer in China cannot claim God is in a state of flux; whereas I in the U.S. see God as unchanging; we cannot both be right! By other believers being able to search the same Scriptures, like the Bereans did with the Apostle Paul, they are able to make a determination who is in accord with the teaching of Scripture (cf. Acts 17:10-11). Often overlooked, this is the value of having an absolute authoritative resource in all matters of faith and practice available that transcends time, place, and culture.
Born again believers should see Yahweh in the same way, provided we are both approaching Scripture from a grammatical/historical point of view. God’s attributes are eternally set or absolute. He is immutable or unchanging as presented in the OT and the NT (Mal 3:6; Heb 13:8). Yahweh in eternity past prior to the creation event (Gn 1:1) is precisely the same God as today, tomorrow, and forever. There is absolutely not one inflection of change in any of His perfections. This is truly amazing!
Born again believers should see Yahweh in the same way, provided we are both approaching Scripture from a grammatical/historical point of view. God’s attributes are eternally set or absolute. He is immutable or unchanging as presented in the OT and the NT (Mal 3:6; Heb 13:8). Yahweh in eternity past prior to the creation event (Gn 1:1) is precisely the same God as today, tomorrow, and forever. There is absolutely not one inflection of change in any of His perfections. This is truly amazing!
Such eternal sameness is a comfort to
the believer for they know what to expect from Yahweh, trusting in His Word with confidence and hope. The Greeks didn't share such a luxury when you consider their belief in gods who were mercurial, whimsical, spurious,
and demonic. In the end, idolatry always destroys a soul in hell. This is the end game of Lucifer and all of his demonic lackeys to
draw as many humans as possible into the second death (eternal separation from God) by veiling a heart of unbelief
from seeing the light of
the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (cf. 2 Cor 4:4). Unbelief strongly suggests volunteers, not
victims.
The belief that “my God is a God love
who would never send anybody to hell” when the New Testament clearly reveals a
literal existence of such a place for the wicked is taking Scripture out of its
context, and it is an intentional intellectual dishonesty. Judgment at the Great White
Throne is not presented figuratively by the Apostle John through
inspiration but as a real upcoming event (Rev 20:11-15).
Many erroneous beliefs about God are
supported by misinterpretations of the Scriptures. Goodness, we can support any
idea from the Bible if we take any text out of its context; the sky is the
limit. This is nothing more than a chaotic or helter-skelter interpretation of
the Word of God, having no basis of historical truth, only a U Pick farm
approach, “You pick that which looks good to you!” Pluck it from its context
because you are the consumer of your own lusts.
There are many who attempt to rewrite
the history of the Bible by approaching the Bible as the “word of men” rather
than the Word of God, refusing to acknowledge that the Bible is the supreme
authority in all matters of faith and practice, or looking only through the
prism of allegory or experience in discovering existential truth.
Truth becomes how we perceive it; it doesn't seem to make any difference whether it contradicts the Scriptures (again, I cite Jdg 21:25). These are all pieces of evidence of spiritual
blindness that the Apostle Paul spoke of in 2 Cor 4:4. Such approaches are the
result of the interpreter not having the Holy Spirit of God (1 Cor 2:14 cf.
Jude 1:19).
Whenever I hear “That’s not my God,” it
has always been in the context of egregious interpretations of the Bible that
are obviously not considered or treated as the supreme authority in all matters
of faith and practice. Then on whose authority is such a declaration being made?
Self-authority, but unbeknownst to them, they are basing it on the authority of
God’s archenemy (2 Cor 4:4), Satan, the god of this world, who has declared and
still declaring, “That’s not my God,” or “Yahweh is not my God!” <><
“Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in
sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the
other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD! And if it seems evil to
you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve,
whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side
of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for
me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua
24:14-15
Thot: The God, of the object of “that’s
not my God,” will one day say to those who declare it, “I never knew you; depart
from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” Mt 7:23
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